In the past few days here at the Ural State University we have been composing an informational letter about our Scientific Research Group for the PASCAL website to follow the posting of my colleague Tatiana Bystrova on Ekaterinburg the Open City. We have tried to highlight our scientific interests and research directions, but it has become too long. Therefore we have made only a brief report below. I also attach the report of a panel, at the conference DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANITARIAN TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATIONAL SPACE OF UNIVERSITY: FACTORS, PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES, which was held on 18th March 2015 at Ural Federal University (in Ekaterinburg, Russia).  This panel Open City: from traditional approach of investigation towards innovation projecting”: learning technologies in Urban Studies, Urban Design and Development explains more about our concept.  Here again is URL to our group page on Facebook (though it is in Russian now).

Our brief report is as follows:

As we move from the post-industrial cities to the neo-industrial phase of development, the role of the humanities in the processes of design, development, renovation and branding grows. The neo-industrial city is built on the culture of communities, values, communication, creativity and openness to all members in its processes.  Local government and initiatives of citizens are playing significant roles. Urban identity projects are focused on humanistic values and are topical under these conditions. The integration of the humanitarian, economic and project components into the concept of "open city" initiates such a theme, but there is lacking theoretical analysis and design-testing. 

"Open city" is an interdisciplinary research theme that requires co-ordination of efforts of specialists with different profiles, from economists and developers to designers. The fundamental problem is the methodology of joint actions, which will be given particular attention in the initial stage of the work. The definition of parameters and guidelines for development of Russian cities in the direction of the "open city" is important, primarily for practitioners such as urban planners and architects, and specialists in tourism and branding. These options are not yet defined, which complicates the implementation of social, environmental and cultural projects, as well as efforts to increase the  security of the modern urban environment.

It is planned that the research theme will be developed in two main directions that will be included in a monograph. The first is philosophical and also concerns the economic feasibility of the ideas of the "open city" given the current economic, environmental, social, and mental characteristics of Russian cities; the second is the analysis and development of individual projects within the concept of the "open city". Testing them during the process of design and by considering values and ideological orientation can be used in the future in professional design practice.